


Forest Training Camp (1)

by Catheeso



Series: BNHA AU [10]
Category: CJMind, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Aizawa is amazing, Bre gets PUNCHED, Find out, Forest Training Camp Arc, Gen, Season/Series 03, Training Camp, do i learn my quirk......., little angry boy is there, on this episode of Glitch can kiss my ass, training arc time!!!, two parter as always
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:48:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27006829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catheeso/pseuds/Catheeso
Summary: The training camp! Safe as can be, Carter and his classmates practice their quirks.
Series: BNHA AU [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1883536





	1. My Classmates Try to Kill Me

The trip wasn’t canceled or postponed, surprisingly. The only change the school decided to make was not revealing the location until the last minute. Which, while kinda odd, Carter could understand. 

And just like that, the first semester was over. It felt like it went by so quickly, especially with all the shit that went down during it. It was like a chapter of a book, coming to a close. There’s always the next chapter. 

The bus rocked back and forth, bumping along the potholes in the road. They had loaded onto the bus and left fairly quickly, ignoring Monoma’s taunts. Class 1-B had been quick to assure them that no, they did not resent them, and yes, Monoma was very rude.

Chatter filled the bus and he found himself eavesdropping on different conversations. It was a tool he picked up from middle school. He was a professional blackmailer, also known as he texted Jaiden gossip because he was incredibly bored.

He was sharing a seat with Destiny who seemed content to flip through her book, ignoring the chaos. Behind him, Bre and Kimi chatted adamantly about the flaws of the hero commission, which would be worrying if it was anyone else. In front of him, Kali was also reading while Lara sketched in her sketchbook. Music was only barely audible from Lara’s earbuds, but he couldn’t make out the song.

Across the aisle, Kacey was flirting aggressively with an extremely flustered Cyrus. Nearby, he could also hear Liam dramatically complaining to an unimpressed Peter, Connor singing to Amelia, and Ethan and Charlie playing a video game together.

He heard Aizawa start to speak before he realized nobody was listening. The chatter continued as he watched Aizawa turn to the window, seemingly contemplating something. 

“When do you think we’ll stop?” he asked Destiny. 

Destiny stopped and looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. “You need to go to the bathroom already?”

“No,” he huffed, “just curious, I guess. What if someone else needs to pee?” 

Destiny chuckled and went back to her book. He smiled back and plugged in an earbud, pressing play on his playlist. He looked through the window, watching the scenery pass in a blur. 

An hour or so passed before the bus slowed down, eventually jerking to a halt. Taking his earbuds out, he saw everybody put their things away and climb out of the bus, stretching as they did so.

“Well, prince, we’re at our stop. You need to pee?” Destiny teased. He flushed at the nickname. 

Stepping out of the bus was refreshing, the fresh air hitting him the same time as the sudden heat. The bus had been cooled which made the new heat seem hotter. 

The rest stop didn’t exactly _look_ like a rest stop. It was a dirt half-circle off the road, a fence lining the edge. A black car sat off to the side. The lush forest in front of them stretched out almost infinitely, mountains, not unlike the one they were on right now, off in the distance. 

“This is an odd rest stop,” Owen said. “Where’s Class B? Did we stop here for a reason?”

“Of course we stopped here for a reason,” Aizawa replied. 

“Heya, Eraser!” a female voice called. 

“Sorry. Haven’t seen you in a while,” Aizawa greeted. Did he seriously apologize to someone? Who was this person and what’d they do with Aizawa? 

“Rock on with these sparkling gazes!”

“Stingingly cute and catlike!” 

“We’re the wild, wild Pussycats!”

Carter tilted his head at the three new people on the cliffside with them. Two were dressed in cat-like costumes, like hero costumes, and the third was a child who stood off on the side. One lady with short brown hair and the other (the one who had initially spoken to Aizawa) with long blonde hair. The kid had a red hat on with yellow horns. 

“These are the pros who’ll be helping us out this time - the Pussycats.” Aizawa nodded to the two pro heroes. 

“This whole area here is our territory,” the bobbed-cut one said, looking out at the forest. He’s pretty sure her name is Mandalay. Or Ragdoll. Or Pixie-Bob. He had seen them on TV once, but he couldn’t tell who was who. He’s gonna call her Bob-cut. “Your lodging is at the foot of that mountain over there.”

“That’s so far away,” Lily observed. 

“Why do I suddenly have a very bad feeling about this?” Carter asked. 

“It’s now nine-thirty AM. I’m thinking, around noon, at the earliest,” Bob-cut said ominously. 

“Back to the bus!” Kimi shouted desperately. A couple kids joined them in their desperate attempt to sprint back to the bus. 

“Kitties who don’t make it there by twelve-thirty won’t get any lunch!” The blonde one crouched down and suddenly Carter remembered which one she was. The blonde one was Pixie-Bob and he silently accepted his fate as he also remembered her quirk.

“Sorry, kids,” Aizawa apologized, not sounding sorry at all. In fact, he sounded smug. He saw Kali shoot him a glare. “The training’s already begun.”

The ground beneath them bucked and threw them off the cliffside in a plume of dirt. He heard his classmates yell in surprise as they fell. He saw Lara land on the ground and quickly teleported to her. 

“This is our private territory, so feel free to use your quirks! You’ve got three hours to reach the facility! Make it through the beast’s forest!”

Carter spat out a mouthful of dirt, standing up slowly. The extra dust and dirt from the throw had fallen on him and he grimaced at his now dirty glasses. 

In front of them stood a gigantic four-legged beast with no eyes. It looked like it was made from the ground. Could it be Pixie-Bob’s quirk? 

The monster roared. Kali sprang forward and snapped her outstretched hand right on its chest, her glove off. The beast immediately melted into nothing. 

“They’re made of dirt,” Amelia frowned. “The blonde chick must be controlling them.”

“With those things in our way, it’ll take us more than three hours to make it through this forest,” Ava pointed out, shifting into a hawk and flying up. She returned a moment later. She brushed dirt off her wing. “Yep, there’s at least five more in the forest right now.”

“If _only_ we had some way to get there fast,” Connor drawled, turning to Carter. Carter blinked, then paled.

“No way!” he exclaimed. “That’ll kill me! Teleporting eighteen people, are you crazy?!”

“Unless you build up the power,” Kimi suggested. “You once mentioned that it’s easier to teleport when you build it up for a while.”

“But for eighteen people? I don’t know if I have the concentration for that,” Carter protested. 

“C’mon, just _try_ ,” Bre whined. “We can keep the beasts off of you while you do so.”

Carter sighed and sat down. “Just- don’t interrupt me. Or touch me. Or interact with me in absolutely any way.”

“Sure,” Kali agreed, taking off her other glove. “Whatever.”

Carter closed his eyes and breathed deeply. The warmth in his chest flickered as he pulled on it, the pixels already forming under his skin. 

Even with all this preparation, it was probably gonna hurt.


	2. Vomiting and Brooding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am not having a Fun Time. Also Bre gets punched.

Carter vomited on the ground. His whole body tingled like it had fallen asleep, a pins and needles sensation. His stomach rolled uncomfortably. His head pulsed with a rapidly worsening headache. 

“We’re here!” Ethan cheered. Carter threw up again.

“Is he okay?” Liam asked. Destiny was crouched next to him, trying to comfort him without touching him. It was kind of working. Somewhat. 

“He will be,” Kali shrugged, stretching. “I forgot how weird that felt.”

“I hate all of you,” Carter choked out. He was on all fours and felt as though he wanted to lay down for a couple hours. Preferably the rest of his life. 

A car rolled up next to them. The class turned to it. Aizawa stepped out along with the rest of the Pussycats, and that one boy, looking vaguely impressed.

“How’d you get here before us?” Bob-cut asked. 

“I _told_ you guys that they had stopped fighting my beasts. And you didn’t believe me!” Pixie-Bob whined. 

“You okay, problem child?” Aizawa asked, walking over to Carter. 

Carter stared at the ground until it wasn’t blurry anymore, though not sitting back. Just in case. “I hate being used as a teleporting train,” he croaked. 

“Ooo, teleporting?” Pixie-Bob perked up and jumped over to Carter who had finally leaned back, resting on his knees. Her previous downtrodden mood was forgotten. She patted his head and he immediately flinched back. 

She ignored it and turned to Kali, poking at her hands. Kali seemed mildly uncomfortable. Hah, get fucked. 

“I saw how you dealt with my earth beasts so easily,” Pixie-Bob praised. “Gonna have fun three years from now! I’m marking you as mine!”

“Hey, Mandalay. I didn’t know she was like _that_ ,” Aizawa said. Huh, so Bob-cut’s name was Mandalay. So that means the people they were missing was Ragdoll and Tiger. 

“She’s worried about being a spinster forever,” Mandalay explained.

“A spinster? How old _are_ you?” Kimi asked. Pixie-Bob responded by smacking Kimi over the face with one of her hand-paw things. 

Bre walked over to the little boy with the horn hat and crouched down. “And who are you?”

The boy looked at her, then at Aizawa and Mandalay. He then punched Bre right in the stomach. 

Bre coughed and fell to her knees, groaning. The boy watched her suffer. Carter held back a horrified snicker. 

“Kouta!” Mandalay shouted as the boy turned around and walked away. “What was that?!”

“I can’t abide jerks who wanna be heroes,” Kouta scowled. 

“Kouta! I- oh, never mind,” Mandalay slumped as the boy walked inside the building and turned to Bre. “Are you okay? I’m sorry about my nephew, he’s just had it rough recently.”

“Fine,” Bre wheezed. “Perfect, actually.”

“Grumpy little twerp,” Amelia said. She looked at Carter. “You good? You still look a little, uh, green.”

Carter puked again.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

* * *

Carter sat down next to Mandalay as his classmates walked outside. He still felt nauseous from teleporting so many people, so he wasn’t particularly hungry. He also chose to skip out on his classmates seeing him naked. He could just take a shower later.

“You sure you don’t wanna go?” Mandalay asked. 

“Not really,” Carter shrugged. Mandalay eyed him for a little bit before looking away. He had questions and she knew it, but it was a test to see who would speak first. 

He closed his eyes and let the muffled sound of his classmates wash over him. They were laughing and talking cheerfully.

And, if he was honest, he wasn’t there because of his own stupid insecurity. His neck ached with the reminder of the scars on it. With his school shirt and tie on, he could almost pretend it wasn’t there. That the encounter never happened and he had gone shopping with his friends, having a good time. 

Suddenly, the muffled voices became too much. 

“Why does Kouta hate heroes?” he asked. He would talk about anything to fill the silence. 

“Huh?”

“Why does Kouta hate heroes?” he repeated. “I mean, like, everybody I grew up with was obsessed with heroes. My friend got me to apply to Heroics just because she wanted to be a hero but didn’t have the quirk for it. It’s just- it’s weird that he feels differently. I’m not a big fan of heroes or anything, but he hates them.”

“Right. Naturally, there are quite a few people in our who don’t think much of heroes. He’d probably look up to heroes too, if he’d been raised _normally_ ,” Mandalay said.

“Normally?”

“Mandalay’s cousins were Kouta’s parents. They were heroes who died in the line of duty,” Pixie-Bob explained, walking in. Oh, that made sense. Of course, Kouta would be bitter.

“Two years ago, they were protecting civilians from a villain. There’s no better way for heroes to meet their end. An honorable death. 

“But a boy who’d only just started learning about the world couldn’t understand that, because his parents _were_ his world. To him, it was like they’d left him all alone. But society just kept praising them, saying that what they did was great and noble. 

“I don’t think he likes us very much, either. But with no other relatives to rely on, he cooperates. To Kouta, heroes are nasty people he can’t understand.”

Mandalay stood up as people started walking inside. She smiled sadly at him. He felt a pang of sadness for Kouta. Despite him hitting Bre in the stomach (which was, admittedly, hilarious), he felt bad for the little kid. 

A hand tapped him on the shoulder. He looked up and saw Liam standing next to him, his yellow skin dim in the light. 

“You coming?” he asked.

“Yeah, yeah, hold on,” Carter said. Maybe, just maybe, he could talk to Kouta. He could relate, just a little bit.

All those kids who made fun of him, they were planning to be heroes. They wanted to save lives while they were crushing one at the same time. Hypocrites, all of them. 

Carter climbed into his sheets next to the rest of the boys in the class. His friends, in another room. Hopefully, this trip would go well.


	3. The Tsunami in the Distance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Learning how to use my quirk!

Five-thirty in the morning was too god-damn early in the morning to be getting up. At least, according to everyone else. He normally wakes up at five every day because he’s both paranoid and lazy somehow simultaneously and needs to be awake super early or he’ll actually combust. 

That’s not hyperbole. 

His classmates grumbled and yawned next to him while he bounced on his feet, perfectly awake. Although if the Pussycats offered him any coffee, he wouldn’t say no. 

“Today, the real training camp begins,” Aizawa said, standing in front of them. They were in a dirty clearing, trees lining it. “Ideally, you will all emerge stronger. Strong enough to acquire your provisional hero licenses. More specifically, there’s a growing hostile force out there.”

Carter traced the scars on his neck. 

“Through this, you’ll be prepared to face it. So stay sharp and work hard. To start...here, Kacey-“ Aizawa threw a baseball at Kacey- “try throwing this.”

“This is from the strength trials,” Kacey frowned. 

“Last time, right after school started, your record was 685.8 meters. How much have you grown since then?”

Kacey tilted their head questioningly and walked up to the spot Aizawa had been standing. 

“So we’re testing to see if we’ve improved?” Cyrus asked. “I wonder how far Kacey can throw now!” 

Kacey wound their arm back. He could see their arm grow more muscular as their quirk enhanced it. Strength enhancement. The ball flew, the wind whistling with the force of the throw. 

Aizawa’s counter beeped. He looked at it then showed it to the class. “691.3 meters.”

“That isn’t a lot,” Lily said. “Surely it should be more?”

“Yes, you _have_ been through a lot these past three months. Undoubtedly, you’ve all grown. But it’s only your techniques and minds that have matured. But as you’ve all just seen, your quirks haven’t kept up with the pace. Starting today, you’ll improve on your quirks. This’ll be so harsh that you’ll wish you were dead, so do your best to stay alive.”

“Jokes on you, I always want to die,” Kali smirked. Aizawa chose not to respond to that.

They were each split up and given instructions on what to do and how to do it. Mandalay and the rest of the Pussycats were there, including Ragdoll and Tiger (who intimidated Carter greatly). 

Carter, in particular, was to work on his glitches. He was to try and figure out a way to use them more consistently, without hurting himself. He knew for a fact that it was easier to use his quirk when he let it build up over time. 

Maybe, if he could somehow figure out a way to speed up the time it took to build the glitches up, he could stop hurting himself. Aizawa told him to focus on that. 

The rest of his class were working on their quirks as well. Destiny was focusing on making more ice for longer periods, upping her tolerance to the cold. Bre was focused on using her quirk faster and producing more goo. 

Kali was focusing on extending the reach of her corrosion and controlling it. Kimi was focusing on producing stingers faster and more consistently. Lara was focusing on getting more control of her air and the force she uses it with. 

All of them were working on _something_. 

Using his glitches for so long was exhausting, but surprisingly not that bad. His hands had become unstable at one point, but they quickly went back to normal. More quickly than normal. That meant training was paying off, right? 

Overall, he found that the build-up was more exhausting than actually executing the glitches, especially with teleporting. See: teleporting yesterday. Luckily, he hadn’t thrown up yet. 

He shifted his stance and focused on pushing the normally slow build-up faster. It felt like taking a shot of adrenaline. Like a tsunami building up until he released it. Instead of releasing it, though, he let it spread past his hands and to the rest of his body. 

It was like his whole body being unstable, except it was _warm_. It didn’t hurt. He could hear the crackling static and he could feel his body glitching, but it wasn’t bad. He didn’t feel bad. Besides the tension in his body and a foreign feeling he couldn’t quite describe, it was like he wasn’t even using his quirk.

 _Try moving_ , Mandalay suggested. He frowned and tilted his head. How would he teleport like this?

Normally, he teleported by doing this in a snap, like a tidal wave crashing. It was the only way he knew how. Even with the build-up, it was a surge of power to teleport. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to go to his next destination. Same thing with teleporting to a person. 

Maybe...maybe he could focus on the warmth in his chest. Before, it was in the background, an afterthought. But now, with the way he’s using his quirk, it was prevalent. It felt nice. Like he had drunk something hot on a cold day. 

If he focused on moving the warmth in his chest, moving the base of his quirk, he could teleport. Well, it wouldn’t hurt to try. 

He focused on a patch of grass only a few feet away from him. Focus on moving, on the warmth, on the center; not on the snap or the instant. 

A loud crackle of static, louder than the constant when he was glitching in place, echoed through the clearing as he teleported to the patch of grass. He stumbled, but there was no nauseous feeling, no flicker of pain in his fingertips. 

He grinned to himself. With this, he could fight without hurting himself. 

“Holy shit, CJ!” Bre called. He looked up and saw her staring at him in shock. “That’s- that’s awesome!” 

He fought back a yawn. So there was one downside, it made him kind of tired. But he winked at Bre, pride filling him. 

His quirk didn’t hurt him anymore. Suck on that, extra toe joint!


	4. Kouta

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Making food is an art form that my classmates are not good at.

“How the _fuck_ do you peel potatoes,” Kimi asked. They looked up at Carter who was peeling his own potatoes. He stuck out his tongue. Kimi groaned. 

The Pussycats had told them that they were the ones making dinner. If they wanted to eat the curry, they would have to make the curry themselves.

Which Carter was perfectly fine with. His mom wasn’t much of a cooker and without anyone else in the house, it was up to him to cook dinner. Or they’d just get takeout. Whichever one they felt up to.

So he knew how to cook a variety of foods. Including curry. Usually, they bought already-peeled potatoes, but he knew how to peel from the couple times he and his mom decided to make it home-made. 

Ethan was helping with the water in the pots, Charlie making the fire to boil them with. Everybody else didn’t really have a quirk to help besides Carmen who turned her hand into a knife and cut through the foods.

When the curry was done, Lara and Ava helping everybody stay on track, it turned out okay. Not as good as he would cook it at home and definitely not as good as the curry from the restaurants he and his mom would go to, but it passed.

“It’s bland,” Liam complained.

“It tastes fine to me,” Connor shrugged.

“Connor, you literally don’t have taste buds,” Amelia replied dryly. “He’s right, though, it’s fine.”

Carter was about to say something but a figure caught his eye. He turned to look, his plate still in his hands, and saw Kouta walking away down a nearby trail. He frowned and looked back at his friends before grabbing another plate and following Kouta.

The kid sat down on a rocky overhang that jutted out further than the rest of the overhang, a cave sitting behind him. Kouta’s stomach growled. 

Carter hesitantly stepped forward. He wasn’t great with kids, that was his sister’s role. He couldn’t babysit for the life of him and he never got along with anybody over a year younger than him. But Kouta seemed like he needed company. 

“Hey, if you’re hungry, I brought some curry my classmates and I made. I noticed you didn’t eat dinner,” he said softly. Kouta still startled anyway. 

“You! How’d you know I was here?” he shouted.

“Uh- um, sorry. I kinda followed you and your footsteps. I just thought you might want some food.” God, Carter hates talking to kids. 

Kouta glared at him. “Nope. Don’t want it. Like I said, I don’t feel like fraternizing with you people. So get away from my secret base.”

“Secret base?” Carter looked around. It wasn’t much of a base. Secret, he could get. 

“Improving quirks, stretching them to their limit, all so gross. Flaunting your power like that,” Kouta scowled at the ground. Carter waited for him to pick up where he left off, but Kouta seemed to be finished with his little speech.

“I was supposed to be quirkless,” Carter said. Kouta looked up with a frown, less angry and more confused. “Extra toe joint and all! Except, when I was ten, something odd happened. There was a warmth in my chest and when I thought about going to my door, I was suddenly there! My hand was basically all pixels and it hurt, but I was so overjoyed. I had a quirk.”

Carter let his face fall. It wasn’t hard to display his sadness at the memories. “I didn’t realize anything was wrong until I showed my mom and she noticed that my arm was bleeding. My quirk, it was _killing_ me. The doctors said that no matter what quirk developed, it would harm me like Glitch does. It’s ironic, isn’t it? The perfect hero quirk and I can’t even use it.”

“Why are you a hero, then?” Kouta asked. “It should be impossible!”

“I did it for my friend,” Carter replied. “Everything I’ve done this year is for my friends. I wouldn’t be here without them.”

“Tch, you don’t even _want_ to be a hero, yet you’re as bad as everyone else.”

He shrugged, “maybe. I like to think it isn’t the quirk that makes a hero; it’s the desire to help people. People become heroes to save people. Of course, that’s what I think. I’m sure Stain thought differently. I’m sure you think differently. I’m sure some heroes think differently.”

Carter turned around to leave but paused.

“But I think that was what your parents wanted to do. All they wanted to do was save people. They wanted to save you.” 

He walked away before Kouta could respond. Did he say the right thing? The wrong thing? If he had stayed, would Kouta have yelled at him? 

He hoped the curry wasn’t cold by the time Kouta ate it. Carter had picked it from the batch he made which had significantly more flavour than the rest. No offense to his classmates or anything.

When he got back, a few stray people were still cleaning up, though most of the dirty dishes were gone.

“CJ!” Lara said, lighting up. “We were looking for you earlier. Where’d you go?” 

“Just wandered off, nothing interesting,” he replied. Kouta wouldn’t like it if he revealed his secret base. After all, it wasn’t Carter’s secret base. Even if it wasn’t really a base. “Where’s everyone?”

“Most of them? Already in bed. I’m pretty sure I caught Cyrus and Kacey sneaking out a little bit ago, but it isn’t in my place to pry,” Lara stretched and went to walk inside. He stuffed his hand in his pockets and followed her. 

“Well it isn’t my job either, but I’m sure Bre and Kimi will wanna be nosy,” Carter grinned. Lara chuckled along with him. 

As she went to the girls’ shared room, he found himself staring after her. An odd feeling of...apprehension? Was settled in his chest. But why? Everything was calm, they were surrounded by pro heroes, and they were having fun.

So why did Carter feel like he was back at the mall with Shigaraki looming behind him, his fingers tight around his neck? 

“You okay?” Charlie asked, appearing behind him. _Just like Shigaraki-_

No- no, he’s not going down the rabbit hole. Charlie was just outside. Carter _saw_ him outside. Charlie was safe.

“I’m fine,” Carter said.

They were all safe here.


	5. Test of Courage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I need a nap. I get a nap. That nap is the highlight of my day. It’s all downhill from there.

Carter was absolutely exhausted. Being tired was better than bleeding, but it still didn’t feel good. It was around noon of the third day and his muscles ached. Everyone else looked similarly tired. 

The remedial group seemed even more tired if that was even possible. Ethan looked ready to pass out.

“Remedial group,” Aizawa said sternly. “Why have you stopped moving?”

“Those extra lessons are killing me, sensei,” Liam complained. 

“I told you this would be rough,” Aizawa replied. “Peter, you don’t utilize the shadows around you enough. You also have trouble controlling many shadows at a time, which is fixed by just using more and more shadows every day. Liam, you need to increase the voltage of your electricity and range. Ethan, you need to be able to control more water and control it more cleanly. Owen, you need to focus on making more wood.

“But most importantly, you all have to make up for your piss-poor performances during the final exam! Think about _that_ when the others are fine and you lot are dead on your feet.”

Aizawa’s glare turned to Kimi and Connor. “You guys, too. You didn’t quite manage to fail, but it was a close call. You needed thirty points to pass, and you two got thirty-four. So don’t let up. You’re all looking sluggish today.

“Always be conscious of who you are. That’s the key to improvement. That’s why you’re out here sweating. Why I’m riding you so hard. Keep it in mind, always.”

Carter’s glitches flickered out, unable to hold their powered-up form. He fell to his knees, but gritted his teeth and pushed himself up. He wasn’t about to give up now. His legs felt heavy and he was sure there were bags under his eyes, but he breathed through it and pushed the build-up. 

It was hard. Third day in training and he could feel the ache in his bones from the extended use. He’d end up looking like Shinso by the time the training camp was over. Kali had already commented on his weariness. 

Furthermore, he could feel a set of eyes on him. When he turned to look, he saw Kouta scamper away from the bush he was most likely watching him from. The eyes returned soon later. 

Well, if the kid wants to stare, let him stare. It was better than the little twat watching him break himself trying to figure out how to use his quirk. 

“Chin up, Carter,” Aizawa told him. Carter nodded and held onto the glitches like he was holding onto a ledge. They bubbled unhappily but complied. 

He channeled them into his hand, the warm feeling trailing down his arms slowly, and threw them at a nearby tree. A _bang_ sounded through the clearing. The smoke cleared fairly quickly, leaving behind a tree with a huge crack on it, and Carter, who felt infinitely more tired but was otherwise unharmed. 

There was a quiet shuffle of feet and he watched Kouta walk away. He couldn’t tell if that was a good reaction or not. 

When he turned to Aizawa, his sensei seemed blank, but Carter could see a hint of pride in his sensei’s eyes. He grinned back. 

Aizawa left him alone with his thoughts and glitches, and Carter focused on his training once more, shaking off the fatigue. Heroes can’t trip, they can’t stumble. Shigaraki caught him when he was stumbling, and that was never going to happen again. He’d be prepared next time. 

“Mew mew mew!” Pixie-Bob exclaimed. Carter lifted his head and turned to her. “Listen, everyone! Tonight both classes are going head-to-head in a test of courage! Your reward for intense training is some intense fun! It’s the carrot-and-stick approach!”

“Ah, I almost forgot about that,” Kendo said. 

“Seriously? I hate scary stuff,” Lily groaned.

“Some special event they’ve got planned for us?” a Class B kid asked. Carter couldn’t quite remember their name.

“Classes going to head-to-head?” Monoma smirked. “I like it.”

“With that said, work your butts off in the meantime!” Pixie-Bob shouted. 

Carter ducked his head as everybody else got back to work. He was sort of excited for this test of courage. He wasn’t big on jump-scares, but it seemed fun enough. Most of all, he was just waiting to get out of the stupid gym uniform from U.A. He had a comfortable shirt in his bag just begging to be used. 

The hours passed by swiftly with him focused on training. His eyes drooped occasionally. He didn’t take naps but maybe skipping dinner would be worth it. 

“CJ?” Bre tapped his shoulder and he jumped. “We can go now. It’s time for dinner.”

“Oh?” Carter yawned, rubbing his face. “Right...I think I’m gonna nap for, like, five hours.”

Bre snorted. “I’ll wake you up when it’s time for the Test of Courage.”

“I’ll save you some food, too,” Destiny said, smiling. 

“You guys are the best,” he mumbled.

“And don’t forget it,” Bre laughed.

* * *

He scrunched up his nose as someone poked him in the cheek. The person prodded him in the cheek once more.

He slowly pushed himself up, weakly glaring at the redhead in front of him. Charlie looked back unapologetically. 

“We’re about to do the Test of Courage. Destiny and Cyrus saved you some stew,” Charlie said. Carter grumbled to himself and got up. 

“Brush your hair,” Charlie called, throwing a hairbrush at him. He turned around in time for it to whack him in the face. There was a moment of silence before barely held-back giggles came from Charlie. Carter scowled. 

After cleaning himself up, he went outside. The cool night air felt a lot better, especially without the sun beating down on him. He really hoped he didn’t smell like sweat. 

Just as Charlie said, there was a bowl of stew. As if reminding him, his stomach growled. Carter didn’t like stew or soup normally, but he’d take what he could get. Pixie-Bob waved cheerfully at him as he quickly ate. 

“Now, then!” Pixie-Bob beamed when he finished. He wasn’t the only slow eater in the class, but he was the last finished. Aizawa chose to say nothing about his slightly disheveled appearance. In Aizawa’s defense, it would be extremely hypocritical. “Bellies are filled and plates are clean! Next up-“

“The Test of Courage!” Liam cheered. “Oh, I’m so excited!”

“Sorry to break it to you, remedial group, but you’ve got your extra lessons with me now,” Aizawa said.

Liam froze like he had been encased in ice. Carter looked over at Destiny and found her hands solidly off the ground. Ethan looked similarly dismayed. 

“But- but what about fun?” Owen asked. “Pixie-Bob promised.”

“Pixie-Bob didn’t promise shit,” Amelia replied. “Sucks to suck, guys.”

Peter scowled at Amelia. Aizawa’s scarf wrapped around the four remedial group students and he dragged them away from everybody else. “Sorry. But you were slacking during training earlier, so now I’m gonna cut into your playtime.”

Carter felt a little bad for the others. Just a little. A teeny tiny bit. Pixie-Bob took initiative and moved to the front. 

“Right. Class B will be on the offensive first. Class A will head into the forest in teams of two, one team every three minutes. You’ll find name cards at the halfway point. Grab your own, then come back here!”

Sounds simple enough. Carter glanced at his friends. Bre and Kali looked excited, Lara and Destiny looked a little scared, Kimi looked like they really didn’t wanna be there, and Amelia looked like it was just another Tuesday. Amelia’s poker face honestly impressed him. She’d be a terrifying villain. 

“The scarers aren’t allowed to make direct contact. They’ll just be using their quirks to startle you the best they can. So get creative! Whichever class makes the other wet their pants more wins!” The other three Pussycats appeared dramatically, except for Mandalay who stayed off to the side. Carter decided he liked her the best. 

“So it’s like a competition?” Ava asked. “But we’re also able to utilize our quirks just like training. That’s kind of smart. It’s both training and fun.”

“How did you turn something that sounded fun into something smart,” Carmen groaned. 

They all drew lots to see who would go with who. He was incredibly lucky for once (or unlucky, depending on the point of view) and got paired with Amelia. Lucky because of her stellar poker face and unlucky because it’s Amelia and they still weren’t buddy-buddy. They were team seven.

Minutes went by. A couple of shrieks came out of the forest, a good scream every once in a while, and a couple playful yelps. Before his team could go in, there was the smell of...smoke?

Carter frowned and turned to see black smoke rising from the forest. Was that somebody’s quirk? He didn’t remember anybody in Class B having a fire quirk. 

Before he could ask, Pixie-Bob was suddenly surrounded by a pink aura and yanked back. He whipped around and saw a cement block cylinder smack into her head. Two people stood above her. 

“Wait, villains?!” Charlie exclaimed. “But- how-“

“Pixie-Bob!” Carter shouted in dismay. How were there villains here? No one knew where here was! 

One was a lizard-like person with a poor imitation of Stain’s scarf, swords, and knives in his belts. The person pinning Pixie-Bob down was muscular with red hair. Both were smiling cruelly. 

Were his classmates safe? The people in the forest? The people back at the building? Was Aizawa safe? Kali, Bre, Lara, Destiny, Kimi? 

Carter’s heart leaped into his throat as one name pushed to the front of his head. Surely Mandalay would’ve made him stay inside, right? But they weren’t supposed to be in danger.

That means Kouta’s up at his secret base with no protection. And no one else knew where he was.

... _Shit._


End file.
